For Better, For Worse
by ilssa
Summary: Breakfast and a marriage proposal in bed for Rose. Snap Shot Series 2.


**For Better, For Worse**

**- 0 -**

**A/N** Second part of the snap shot series, which is, of course, utterly A/U. I miss Rose/Nine already.

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'I do solemnly declare that I know not of any lawful impediment why I, Rose Tyler, may not be joined in matrimony to you,' the barest hesitation, 'John Smith.' 

Rose repeated the words back, her voice nowhere near as sure as the Doctor's had been when he'd said them. She wished her mum was here. Out of the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of a battered leather coat draped over the back of a chair across the small formal room. Maybe not.

Feeling a sudden sharp cramping sensation, Rose surreptitiously lifted her right and then left leg to relieve the ache in her calves that her high heels were causing. She'd got out of the habit of wearing them – fleeing for her life was so much easier in trainers. Still, today was special and jeans and boots just weren't going to cut it. Even the Doctor was wearing a suit. God, married. They were really doing it.

Rose recited the rest of the words of the ceremony as directed, feeling almost disconnected from it all by a strange fog of mingled happiness and trepidation.

.  
Four hours ago she'd been fast asleep wrapped in the Doctor's arms, nothing more serious on her mind than the odd recurring dream about Jack and his plans to stage an intergalactic musical featuring buffalos in cowboy hats. Twelve hours before that she'd been sitting on the settee in her mum's living room, the Doctor at her side with his head buried in the glossy pages of _Bella_, doing her best not to scream while Jackie had gone off on another one. It had been a variation on the usual theme; a rant about how Rose was throwing it all away again on a wrong 'un, only this time it wasn't Jimmy Stones with his lack of prospects and brains, but the Doctor – an alien from another planet who, apparently more damning still, wouldn't ever marry her and settle down somewhere close so that the kids could grow up near their gran. When Jackie had finally paused to draw breath, the Doctor had stood up, a fixed grin on his face, and told Jackie that in another hundred years scientists would discover a mathematical equation that proved that time actually did fly when you were having fun, which meant it was probably time they were off.

After his over-the-top pleasantness as they bid a slightly shell-shocked Jackie goodbye, the Doctor had been unusually subdued. Rose hadn't attempted to tease him out of his Jackie induced doldrums because she'd been too busy being annoyed with herself for insisting that they visit in the first place. Not that she didn't want to see her mum; she had just learnt that it generally went a lot smoother when Jack was around to pour his patented oil on troubled waters. However, Jack had announced the day before that both he and the lovebirds needed a holiday, so they'd left him on a pleasure planet in the Has nebula with strict instructions not to collect him until his two weeks were up, even if the universe was about to explode. For some insane reason she could no longer clearly recall, Rose had decided that now it was just the two of them, it was the perfect opportunity to pop home to see her mum.

By the time they had made the short journey to the TARDIS, she still wasn't in the mood to hear the Doctor say, 'I told you so,' with that smug expression he saved for just such occasions, so she'd made her excuses and left him tinkering with something in the control room while she headed off to bed.

She awoke to the aroma of fried bacon. When she opened her bleary eyes, it was to see a fully clothed Doctor lying stretched out beside her, propped up on his elbow and using his remaining free hand to waft the heavenly smelling plate back and forwards under her nose.

'Mmm, whas'that? No, come back,' she mumbled, when the plate was whipped away and the Doctor's bright blue eyes appeared in her line of vision. 'What you doin?'

'Morning, sunshine.' The Doctor grinned. 'Thought I was gonna have to move on to Plan B for a minute there – bucket of cold water and a foghorn.' He lifted himself up to lean against the headboard and stared curiously down at her. 'You must have been exhausted – I thought a bacon butty could raise you from the grave.'

Rose blinked owlishly back at him. 'Bacon?' she whimpered mournfully.

'Not till you've brushed your teeth,' the Doctor admonished firmly.

Rose groaned and pushed her hair out of her eyes. 'Why? _Why_ would you torment me like that?'

'Do you know how much bacteria you humans have in your mouth when you wake up?' the Doctor asked in a vaguely lecturing tone. 'You produce less saliva at night so by morning things are running wild in there. Why anyone thinks it's a good idea to swallow all that down with tea and toast is beyond me.'

'That's so disgusting. Why'd you want to tell me something like that?' She jerked her head out of his reach when he leaned in to kiss her. 'And, more importantly, why'd you want to kiss a mouth like that?'

'Alien,' he said, jerking a thumb towards his chest. 'Immune. And also deeply in need of a good morning kiss right about now.' He bent his head and this time Rose reached up to meet him half way.

Much sooner than she would have liked, the Doctor reluctantly broke the kiss and administered a gentle smack to her pyjama-clad bottom as he pulled away.

'Come on, Rose Tyler, enough lolling in bed. We've got a big day ahead of us.'

'We have? Why – where're we going?'

An oddly diffident look appeared on the Doctor's face and Rose sat up a little straighter. At the same time the Doctor scooted down in the bed to lie flat on his back and folded his arms behind his head. 'Thought we could hop a few years into the future today and get married.' His eyes flicked watchfully to hers as he spoke, but his head remained still on the pillow.

'What I… _What?_'

'If you want to that is.' He shrugged as if her answer wasn't of any great interest.

'I don't…' Rose shook her head bemusedly. 'Sorry, what did you say?'

The Doctor sighed heavily and heaved himself upright once more. 'You, me, married,' he said, turning to face her. 'Today. Fancy it?'

'Well… yeah,' Rose began, and then felt a huge grin appear on her face. She bounced up onto her knees and flung her arms around him. The Doctor gave a shout of laughter and hugged her back. 'Yes, I'll marry you, you idiot!' She pulled on the lapels of his leather jacket to rain kisses over his face. 'You just took me by surprise. I mean, this is a bit out of the blue, innit? How come…' she trailed off to stare at him sickly.

'What?' the Doctor demanded warily.

'Is this cos of my mum? What she said last night about me wasting my life being with you?'

The Doctor made a scornful noise in the back of his throat. 'This has got nothing to do with Jackie.'

Rose tilted her head consideringly, not trusting the way he was suddenly avoiding eye contact. 'Tell me the truth.'

'OK,' he admitted grudgingly. 'Maybe she got me thinking,' he raised his hands to forestall whatever argument she was about to make. 'But that's all she did. It struck me last night for the first time that marriage might be important to you. Something you'll regret not having because you're with me. Then when I thought about it I realised it meant something to me to.'

'So you're not asking me to prove some stupid point to her?'

'Oi! Nine hundred years old here – do you really think I could be that childish and petty?'

Rose frowned sternly at him and he relented. 'Fine! So a tiny part of me _is_ looking forward to breaking the news to her.' Rose frowned harder and he reached out to link his fingers with hers, an appeasing expression on his face. 'But that's just the cherry on the cake, Rose. The cherry on the fifteen layer, cream, chocolate and strawberry covered cake. In fact, there's so much cake I can barely even _see _the cherry. It's all cake, Rose. All cake.'

And as easily as that, Rose felt the bubbling doubt give way to joy. She grinned and squeezed convulsively at the fingers entwined in hers. 'So, why're we hopping a few years into the future then?'

The Doctor's grin rivalled her own. 'Because by then there won't be a sixteen day waiting period before you can marry. We don't even have to go to the Register Office to give notice in person – booked it on the internet while the bacon was frying,' he said, looking smugly self-satisfied.

Rose paused in her attempts to manoeuvre herself out of the Doctor's arms and into the bathroom to stare curiously back at him. 'Er, correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't having a time machine sort that little problem out?' She watched curiously as the Doctor suddenly became very interested in assisting her down from the high bed. 'Something you're not telling me?'

The Doctor shrugged his jacket off and began thoughtfully helping Rose to disrobe. She slapped him away and stood with her hands on her hips, watching him through narrowed eyes.

'Right. Well. Thought it might be better if you were a bit older on the marriage certificate. Save Jackie throwing the cradle snatching thing at me every time we visit.'

Rose hid her laughter in a very unconvincing cough, and pulled an apologetic face at the Doctor's disgruntled expression. 'Come on then.' She tugged on his arm and dragged him into the bathroom behind her. 'Well, clearly we've got our something old.' She reached up to place a contrite kiss on his sulky lips. 'And our something blue,' she said, waving fondly at the TARDIS, 'but the something new will definitely involve a great deal of clothes shopping!'

.  
'… by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride.'

For once the Doctor's smile was absent, and his lips when they met hers were almost reverent. He pulled slowly away, and as he came back into focus, Rose saw some deep emotion gleaming in his eyes. She smiled up at him, a hint of puzzlement on her face.

'Something wrong?' he asked quietly.

'No,' she said at once, but was prevented from continuing when the registrar handed her a pen. Her signature came out slightly wobbly, but the Doctor dashed off his false name with a flourish. Rose shook her head in unwilling admiration.

'Sure?' he asked turning immediately back to her, but the registrar was interrupting them again, obviously keen to keep to his schedule for the morning as he offered them his congratulations and best wishes for the future. He handed Rose the wedding certificate and the next few minutes were taken up with a flurry of thanks and goodbyes to the two witnesses they'd found arguing in a café around the corner. The couple were now misty-eyed with happiness, and Rose smiled as she watched them walk out together, hand in hand, peace obviously restored by a bit of vicarious romance.

'Yes, I'm sure.' Rose picked up the conversation as they made their way down the dull grey corridor. 'I just…' He cocked an enquiring eyebrow when she hesitated. When she didn't immediately continue he pulled her into an alcove to pin her with an unblinking stare. 'Honest, it's nothing, I was just a bit surprised by the kiss, that's all.'

'What was wrong with it?' he demanded, an offended expression beginning to form.

'Nothing! But you know what you're like – I mean, we're married now. I just expected you to kiss me like you meant it.'

'I always mean it!'

'Sorry, sorry! That didn't come out right! I meant, just, well, bigger, more… I dunno, over the top. You know what you're like,' she said again.

'Ah!' Thankfully he seemed mollified by her explanation and she gave a soft sigh of relief when he grabbed her hand and set off down the corridor again. She didn't want their first argument as a married couple to take place less than five minutes after the ceremony. That surely wouldn't bode well for the future.

'Matter of fact,' he continued conversationally as they reached the stairs, 'I did come over all primal when smiler got to the "husband and wife" bit. It was touch and go for a minute whether I'd be able to stop myself throwing you to the floor and having my wicked way with you there and then.' He waggled his eyebrows playfully and Rose let out a startled giggle at the thought of what the rather sober registrar would have had to say about that. Remembering his super efficiency though, she rather thought he might have just tapped his foot impatiently and asked them to get a move on because he had other ceremonies to perform that day.

'So what stopped you?' she asked, half seriously.

He came to a halt at the bottom of the staircase. A small scuffle broke out behind them as the people following on almost ran into their backs. The Doctor placed firm hands on Rose's shoulders and steered her to safety, waving on the grumbling crowd with a regal gesture.

'Not sure,' he said, ignoring the people milling past, and staring thoughtfully down at her, faint frown lines appearing on his forehead. 'I looked at you and suddenly I just…' he paused, seeming to struggle to find the right words. And then he shrugged, a smile breaking free and the same soft gleam of emotion shining from his eyes as he'd had when he kissed her. 'I looked at you.'

Rose nodded, happy with his less than eloquent explanation. 'Yeah.' She bumped her hip gently against his, biting the edge of her lip in an attempt to hold back the permanent foolish smile she seemed to have acquired. 'So, we're married.'

'Yep. Well,' the Doctor amended quickly. 'As married as we can be when we're five years into the bride's future and the groom's an alien using a false name and psychic papers.'

'Sounds married to me,' Rose agreed cheerfully.

He slid an arm around her shoulder and hugged her to his side. 'Yeah, me too.'

The Doctor led the way back to the café where they'd met their arguing witnesses. Rose felt slightly uncomfortable sitting down to eat in her wedding finery instead of just poking their heads through the door as they'd done earlier, but the Doctor apparently felt no awkwardness at all, grinning happily back at anyone who caught his eye until they turned uneasily away, unsure what to make of him. While they waited for a waitress to appear out of the lunchtime scrum of customers, Rose pulled out the marriage certificate and frowned down at it.

For once the Doctor wasn't bored by inactivity and was now staring with great interest at a very large man polishing off an even larger meal. A delighted smile split his face when a harried looking waitress in a stained apron dashed by the man's overflowing table and deposited a custard and sponge filled bowl.

'Rose,' he whispered, 'would you look at that—' he began, only to break off when he saw the expression on her face as she stared down at the paper she held. He felt a jolt run from his stomach and become wedged in his throat. In a human, he'd have called the uncomfortable sensation panic.

'Here,' he said, having to reach out to touch her hand to gain her attention. 'Not having second thoughts are you?'

Rose lifted her head, the surprise on her face allowing him to breathe easy again.

'Course not,' she said with stomach settling sincerity. 'I just wish you'd told me what name you were gonna be using on your psychic documents before it was too late to do anything about it.'

'What? Why?'

'Cos now I'm Rose _Smith_.' The Doctor lifted his shoulders in a questioning shrug. 'Well, it's… boring.' The Doctor went to make another dismissive gesture and Rose suddenly looked worryingly smug. 'And it's Mickey's last name an' all.'

'Is it?' He looked suddenly very disgruntled. 'Why didn't you tell me?'

'Well, firstly because you already knew and secondly – whole point of the conversation here; why didn't _you _tell _me?'_

'Because that's the name I always use! The name I was using before Mickey the idiot could even write it.' The Doctor paused, a disdainful expression appearing on his face. 'Not that I'm convinced he can write it now. Did you ever notice your Christmas and Birthday cards all arriving with a big 'X'?'

Rose opened her mouth to object, but the Doctor barrelled on. 'Look, are you sure that's his name? He doesn't look like a Mickey Smith.' He gazed around the room, an unfocussed light appearing in his normally bright blue eyes. 'Maybe Mickey Gibbons, or Mickey…'

'Mouse?' Rose supplied helpfully.

'Nah, I like mice. I like Mickey Mouse.'

'Sorry for the wait, ducks, it's mad in here today.' The waitress appeared at their table, thankfully cutting the discussion short before it could turn into an argument. She had a fraught expression on her face, and her hair was busily escaping from the loose ponytail it looked like it had started off the day in to hang limply around her face. The Doctor smiled warmly at her, and her own pasted on smile flickered, as she seemed to actually take him in. 'So what can I get you two?' She asked in a more natural tone. 'Something special? If you don't mind me saying, you look like you should be eating in a fancier place than this.'

'Yeah,' Rose said with a pointed look at the Doctor. 'We just got married. He apparently thinks this is the perfect romantic restaurant.'

The waitress gave a gruff bark of laughter. 'Takes years to train 'em properly. Just don't ever let him forget this,' she said confidingly to Rose. 'In the long-run it'll be worth it; this'll win you more arguments in the years to come than a nice meal would today.' She laughed again when the Doctor looked suddenly perturbed. 'Well, congratulations to you both.' She smiled and lifted her pad in the air. 'I'm Marlene and I'm sorry it's not champagne, but the tea's on the house.'

The Doctor reached out to briefly squeeze her hand. 'Thank you, Marlene.' The older woman flushed, looking instantly years younger. 'I'm Doctor Tyler,' he continued with a proud smile. 'And this is my wife Rose.'


End file.
